Shear panels, as they are generically known as, are common in the building industry, and are used primarily to construct shear walls. Common types of shear panels are constructed from wood, metal or concrete. There are several types of shear panels.
One particular type of shear panel used more frequently than others, particularly in residential construction, is oriented strand board or OSB, which is an engineered wood product formed by layering strands (flakes) of wood in specific orientations. Other types of shear panels include fiberboard, particle board, hardboard, masonite, plywood, just to name a few.
Several problems exist with these conventional types of shear panels. For example, they are poor sound attenuators, or rather they exhibit poor noise reduction properties. Stated differently, they transmit or pass through a large percentage of the sound they are exposed to. Thus, when used to form exterior wall or flooring partitions, it is often necessary to equip the wall with insulation or other types of sound absorbing materials to improve the Sound Transmission Class (STC) rating across the created partition.
STC, part of ASTM International Classification E413 and E90, is a widely used standard for rating how well a building material attenuates airborne sound. The STC number is derived from sound attenuation values tested at sixteen standard frequencies from 125 Hz to 4000 Hz. These transmission-loss values are then plotted on a sound pressure level graph and the resulting curve is compared to a standard reference contour. Acoustical engineers fit these values to the appropriate TL Curve (or Transmission Loss) to determine an STC rating. STC can be thought of as the decibel reduction in noise that a wall or other partition can provide. The dB scale is logarithmic, with the human ear perceiving a 10 dB reduction in sound as roughly halving the volume. Therefore, any reduction in dB is significant. The reduction in dB for the same material depends upon the frequency of the sound transmission.
Another problem with conventional shear panels is that, by themselves, they have poor thermal insulating properties. They are typically combined with insulation or other heat resistant materials to provide a resulting walled partition with the needed resistance to heat transfer or heat loss. This significantly increases costs of building as additional materials and labor is required, while only providing minimum protection.